Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-01-07
THE TELEGRAPH.
History Of the First Ltme-Ho,o 1t Has
Established.

washington Critic.l
It was enacted by Congress on the
3rd of March, 1S43, that the sum of
$4,000 be appropriated for testing the
capacity and usefulness of the system Of
electromagnetic telegraphs invented by
Samuel F. B. Morse, of New York, for
the use of the Government of the
United States, by constructing line OF
said electromagnetic telegraphs. under
the superintendent of Prof. Morse, of
such length and between such points as
should fully test its practicability and
utility, the same to be expended under
the direction OF the Secretary Of the
Treasury upon the application of said
Morse. The second section Of the act
authorizes the Secretary of the Treas
ury to pay from the $4,000 what he
may deem fair compensation to Morse
and others for experimenting the con-
struction Of the telegraph.
There were four patentees, Morse,
T. o. J. Smith, Alfred Vail, and George
Vail. Prof. Morse. in attempting to
construct the line between Washington
and Baltimore (for they were the cities to
be connecte1, conceived the idea of
building it underground, and accord
ingly, after the wire was made, which,
by the way, was Of copper, wrapped
with fine thread and tarred so as to
make as perfect an insulation as was
known at that date, leaden pipe was
selected and made to receive the wire
underground About $1,000 of the
$50. 1000 was expended on this pipe be-
fore a test was made. The test, how
ever, was failure. A battery and in
strument were placed at either end Of
the lead pipe, but there was no cur
rent, and it was soon ascertained that
the current all passed from the wire to
the pipe and from the pipe to the best
known conductor-mother earth. Mr..
George Wood, a clerk to the patentees,
said afterward that for several days it
.was thought Prof. Morse would lose
his reason in consequence of this disap-
pointment.
After lengthy consultation f. 0. j.
Smith. better known as Fog" Smith,
agreed to buy the leaden pipe for
small consideration, and it may be
stated that but for suggestion made
by Smith (and he alone is entitled to
the credit that the wires should be put
on poles, as they are now, years might
have elapsed before the electromagnetic
telegraph would have been in operation.
Smiths suggestion was success, much
to the delight of Morse. who had in
the meantime gone almost distracted,
and things went on swimmingly. The
line having been completed between
the two cities the office at Washington
was established in the north end OF the
Capitol. Mr. Louis T. Banitzinger was
the operator-the first in this city, and
a good one. Such thing as a key to
write with in those days was not known.
The mode of writing or making the
character then was with the wire as it
came into the operating-room from
Baltimore; or, to give q better idea.
imagine one of the wires on the street
smuggling so low that it could be cut in
two. A good operator can take either
end of the wire in his right and left
hand, and, by striking them one with
the other, send message. This was
about the way messages were then
transmitted. When it was no longer o
doubt that the telegraph was success
the Office was removed to Seventh street,
between E and r streets, over the then
city postoffice, where the east front of
the General Postof1ice now stands, and
the line was opened to the general
public. William Linton and J. w.
Lugenbeel learned the art of tele-
graphing in the early spring of 1916,
and were the first employees on the
line between Washington and New
Orleans
Among the few operators in Wash
ington now who can look back and
call to mind the telegraph in it's infancy
are the following: John w. Lugen-
beel, William Linton. Fred Rooms,
James Towers, Llewellyn Washington,
and William Macfeely. There are two
others not now residing in Washington
whose names should be mentioned in
connection with the early days of the
telegraph-Messrs. J. B. and Lambert
Tree. These gentlemen studied the art
with the writer and were for several
years his assistants. Lambert Tree
was quiet, sedate young man, SO much
SO that the writer dubbed him "Judge, {"
not dreaming at the time he would
ever aspire to a judgeship. He has,
however, been three times selected
Judge in Illinois, and now has the high
honor of representing this country as
Minister to Belgium.
Mr.. CONkLING and THE .ART1sT.
During the time of the electoral
commission, early in 1877, when Conl-
limo was in the Senata ond ,roe &c